Citysearch Putting Emphasis on Profiles

Citysearch is apparently putting new emphasis on the social dimensions of its site. It long ago integrated Facebook Connect and more recently became a Twitter client. But now it wants users to sign up rather than just drive by. According to the email I received this morning:

Things to do on the new and improved Citysearch include:

Add friends and following their reviews, lists and photos

Write your own reviews and lists all from one easy place

Subscribe to our redesigned 4-Day Weekend Newsletter to help keep you in the local know, or general Citysearch alerts to keep updated on site happenings and changes

Some things remain the same, such as our fantastic editorial lists guiding you to the best in your city, and being able to find out more about places you love or haven’t tried yet.

This is also likely part of an effort to reinvigorate the Citysearch brand and build more direct relationships with users. Citysearch has an extensive salesforce but has suffered at the hands of Yelp in terms of consumer traffic and brand equity. And like IYPs, among others, in the local space it cannot rely on SEO traffic from Google to sustain it over time.

2 Responses to “Citysearch Putting Emphasis on Profiles”

Citysearch has been making a number of great moves recently, it seems to me. It’ll be a long-term battle with Yelp and now almost certainly Facebook, but Citygrid was a genius idea. I’ve also noticed a number of IYPs starting to show Citysearch results (presumably as part of Citygrid)…their strategy of Google, Facebook, Yelp, and __everything else is on Citygrid__ seems like a sustainable “bundle.”